To the Editor:

Around the corner of an old Southern manor, two little girls walked hand in hand. One was about 2 years old, the other a few years older. Each held a slice of watermelon in the unoccupied hand, happily munching away, heedless of the juice dripping down their chins and onto their clothes. Their blissful smiles were truly a joy to see, a reminder for all the adults who watched of innocent days gone by.

Not an unusual sight, one might say, probably a sight repeated across the nation as we celebrated Independence Day. Yet the sight of these innocent girls brought tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat.

Why, you might ask? The younger of the two was a tiny blonde, the daughter of Wiccan parents. The other child was African-American and wore the headdress of a Muslim. These children demonstrated, without a word, the ideal toward which we should all be striving -- the ideals toward which the group sponsoring the picnic (The Interfaith Alliance of Mississippi) is striving.

Dee Richey